


coffee "dates"

by etcetc



Series: a girl, a mongoose, and a curse [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Female/Female Relationship, Friends to Girlfriends, Original Female Characters - Freeform, adventurer Reagan, coffee shop cliche, lowkey romance, vaguely fantasy setting, witch Nadia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 13:51:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9745436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etcetc/pseuds/etcetc
Summary: They're out for coffee - something typical, until Reagan throws the word "dates" into the conversation; Nadia seems to have something on her mind.





	

    The coffee shop was warm and small, a personable space filled with the chatter of customers and the clink of cups, the hiss of steaming milk and the squeaking of chairs against the scuffed floor. It wasn’t even close to Reagan’s typical scene – well, yes, she worked as a barista, but she would never spend her _free time_ here – and yet there she was. The things that Nadia could convince her to do. Though it admittedly wasn’t her usual scene, or anywhere that she wanted to be, Reagan had to admit that she was having a good time. Something about Nadia brought good times along with her.   
  
    “You know,” she said, swirling around her latte in its yellow mug, “I enjoy these little outings of ours. Coffee dates are always nice.” Nadia blinked, her dark eyes displaying some unreadable emotion.   
  
    “Dates?” the witch asked.  
  
    Her gray skin seemed even more flushed than usual in that moment, the gentle, rosy blush on her cheeks apparent. It confused Reagan. “Yeah, that’s… that’s what I said. Dates… uh, not because they’re real dates, but sometimes close friends say that. It’s just a thing, y’know?”  
  
    “Oh,” Nadia replied. She glanced down at her teacup, analyzing her reflection in its surface. The amber liquid made her look more human, she thought, giving her skin a pretty coloration instead of the unnatural gray that she loathed so much. “I see. I guess I wouldn’t know. We didn’t do things like this in the coven.”  
  
    “Things like dates? Or just going places?” Reagan prompted.   
  
    “We didn’t leave the coven, remember? We had a whole community – you know that, I guess – but we didn’t go anywhere special. There was such a limited… selection of people, so to speak. Things like this are nice because of that. There’s so much out here and so many places to go. So many things to learn.”  
  
    Reagan nodded, offering a small smile which Nadia returned. “That makes sense. What did you guys even do for dates there, anyways? Sacrifice goats to the devil? Oh, wait! Children? Firstborn sons?”  
  
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” Nadia scoffed. “They’re witches, not devil worshippers. I don’t even know if people _do that_ to begin with! But as for dates…” she paused, shrugging, “I’ve never been on one. This is the closest thing I’ve had to it. I guess, well, they’d do things like this, though? Just because I basically grew up in a cult doesn’t mean that my life was _that_ different.” She laughed, rolling her eyes. Something about the gesture seemed so _normal_ , so fun, that Reagan couldn’t help but laugh with her. Moments like these were what made sitting in coffee shops worthwhile.   
  
    “Sounds about right. People don’t have much creativity these days, witches or not.”  
  
    Nadia quirked up an eyebrow, causing Reagan to stifle another burst of laughter. “Creativity? And what exactly is, pray tell, a ‘creative’ date?”  
  
    “I don’t know,” the adventurer admitted, running a hand through her auburn tresses. It was a tick, Nadia had noticed, something she did while thinking, while unsure. _Is she embarrassed?_ the witch wondered with no small amount of amusement. “I’ve never, uh, really been on a date either? I… well, yeah. Not really. I had a few flings in high school, and when I started community college courses years ago, but not anything ‘real’, I guess.”  
  
    “Depends on your definition of real, right?”  
  
    Reagan sucked in a deep breath, her grip on the mug tightening in small increments. “I wouldn’t say it was real. It didn’t feel genuine, like… there wasn’t really anything there.”  
  
    “I don’t follow.”  
  
    A nonchalant shrug, another sip of her latte. “I don’t know if I really felt anything for any of ‘em. Hard to tell this far in retrospect, but I don’t know.”  
  
    The smile Nadia offered was sincere, tender. “Feelings are fickle things, you know. It’s hard to tell when you’re not in the moment. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, though – it’s in the past, isn’t it?” She traced her index finger around the rim of her cup, watching the minute ripples of the tea. Watching the oscillating liquid was soothing.  
  
    “Sure,” Reagan said, and a quiet fell over them. Nadia seemed lost in her teacup. “So… what kind of date would you want to go on? If you ever did date anyone?”  
  
    “I’m not sure, actually, I haven’t put too much thought into it. It was never a priority back then – and I guess it’s not exactly a priority now. Too much to worry about besides that. What about you?”  
  
    Yet another shrug. Nadia could sense her slight unease – it didn’t take magic to see that. “I don’t know either. Maybe… something really casual. Like going out to coffee.”  
  
    “So theoretically, this – right now – is your ideal date.”  
  
    The blush that consumed Reagan’s cheeks was furious, bright against her tanned skin. “That’s one way to put it, I guess,” she muttered.  
  
    Nadia grinned, inching closer across the tabletop. “Coffee – that’s all? And here you were talking about _creativity_. Huh.”  
  
    “Well, I mean – you’re not much better!” Reagan spluttered, leveling a fierce glare at the girl across from her. “You don’t even know what kind of a date you would want to go on, so you have no right to judge me.” She rolled her eyes – another trend that Nadia was noticing, although she didn’t mind; it was so _her_ , so comforting – and downed the rest of her coffee.   
  
    “I do, actually. Maybe. I just said I wasn’t _sure_.”  
  
    With a huff, Reagan slumped forward against the table, her emerald eyes still narrowed. “And what’s that supposed to mean, exactly?”  
  
    “That I don’t want to talk about it.”  
  
    Reagan’s eyes lit up, a spark of something – curiosity or excitement, maybe, Nadia could never tell and just knew it was never good – flickering across her countenance. “Oh my god. You want to go on a date with someone, don’t you? Are you – no, are you _embarrassed about it?_ No way! Oh my god, that’s so adorable. Little Nadia, all love-struck,” she crooned, giggling.   
  
    “Little? I’m older than you – and taller, for that matter. If anyone’s little, it’s _you_.”  
  
    “I’m not the one with a schoolgirl crush,” Reagan shot back. “So who is it? Someone from work? Oh, oh, wait – do I know them?”   
  
    Nadia glanced away, unsettled by Reagan’s prying comments. “Look, I don’t think this is the time to discuss—”  
  
    “It’s okay,” Reagan interjected. She glanced down at the floor, paying sudden attention to the faux wood grain. There was nothing interesting about it. “I can take a hint. I’ll back off.”  
  
    “Thank you.”  
  
    “Any time,” Reagan replied, but the atmosphere was lost. And really, she wanted to know, so badly. They lived together, talked about everything – wasn’t this something she should know? If anything, she was just surprised that Nadia hadn’t said anything before. This was the first she’d heard of any love interest. “Uh, maybe we should head home,” she added after a tense minute had ticked by.   
  
    “I’m not done with my tea,” Nadia said, but she stood up anyway. They walked out together in relative silence.   
  
  
  
    “I’m sorry,” Reagan said once they were in the car. She buckled herself into the driver’s seat and started the engine, relaxing into her seat wish a sigh. Music blared from the speakers, but Nadia reached for the volume control and turned it down until it was just a whisper enveloping them. “I ruined things, back there, and I shouldn’t have. I just… well, you know. Haven’t had something like this in a long time, and I just miss gossip like that.”  
  
    Nadia shook her head, her ebony ponytail mirroring the movement. “No, it’s okay. I should get used to things like this, I guess. I’ve just never dealt with it.”  
  
    “Really?”   
  
    “Yeah,” Nadia answered. “I’ve never had friends that talked about things like you do. Different cultures, I suppose. It’s fine – you didn’t do anything wrong, and I don’t mean to be standoffish. I just wasn’t sure what to say, or how to talk about this.”  
  
    The song shifted, hard rock filling the quiet. Reagan shut the music off, but the silence might have been worse – she couldn’t tell. “I’ve always just been really open, I guess. I don’t have a problem talking about… anything.”  
  
    “I know,” Nadia replied with a smile. “I like that about you.”  
  
    “A lot of people hated it – and me, kinda? I’m not everyone’s cup of tea,” she laughed.  
  
    “I wouldn’t understand why. It’s a nice change of pace.”  
  
    Reagan snorted at the comment, covering her mouth with one hand. It was an endearing gesture, one that Nadia didn’t understand. “Change of pace from what? I thought you said your life was ‘normal’ before this.”  
  
    “It was, kind of. But talking about things isn’t always normal, is it? Most people just… hide, and wait for everything to resolve itself.”  
  
    “Everything – like what?”  
  
    Nadia leant against the cool window, watching rain drops slide down the glass. “Feelings, conflict – everything. Most everyone I know isn’t direct like you are. I was under the impression that confronting things head-on wasn’t the most ‘normal’ way of doing things.”  
  
    “I guess it just seems that way to me since I always have,” Reagan replied.   
  
    “It’s not a bad thing. Like I said, I like that.”  
  
    There was a pause before Reagan spoke up again. “Is there something that you want to confront head-on? It just seems like you’re uncomfortable with whatever’s going on, and I just – I want to help. We’re friends, y’know? And friends help each other.”  
  
    “I don’t know if you can help much with this.”  
  
    “You’d be surprised by how helpful I can be,” Reagan said, grinning. “Just give me a chance. Pretty please?”  
  
     Nadia blinked, gazing at Reagan with a rapt interest. “A chance? Okay.”  
  
    “That’s the spirit!” Reagan began, but Nadia cut her off before she could say anything else – and she knew that Reagan would have something else to say, _many_ things to say. She always did.  
  
    “Would you go on a date with me?”  
  
    Reagan stopped – and then everything else did, too, as she processed the words. “A… a date? Like this?” She fell quiet, glancing down at her lap and fiddling with her hands as though it would give her an answer. “A real date?” She finally looked up at Nadia again, struggling to meet her eyes.   
  
    “Yeah. A real date. I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while, you know, and I just—”  
  
    “I think I’d like that.”  
  
    The answer shocked her, and she wasn’t sure whether to believe it. All of her breath vanished. “You – really? You would? I—I wasn’t sure, I just didn’t know if you even _liked_ girls, and I wasn’t sure if _I_ like girls, and—”  
  
    “You should really learn when to stop talking, Nadia,” the adventurer interrupted. “I said yes, and I meant it. Just, okay, settle down – we’re going home now, and it’s movie night, right?”  
  
    “Sure,” Nadia answered, without thinking. She was still stunned. Stunned by the beautiful girl beside her and her unexpected acceptance.  
  
    “I guess this time, we’ll actually call it a date,” Reagan said with a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is just something that I wrote with my newest original characters. I decided that they would end up dating at the end of the first story they appeared in, which I may post here at some point (after revising it and maybe adding some to it), and that this is how it would happen. The relationship would progress much more gradually, of course, and Nadia wouldn't just ask Reagan out on a whim, but this is how it culminates. Maybe. I might change it, and I might write about their relationship before this as well. (This is also loosely/subtly based on some of my recent experiences.) Enjoy! Any feedback is welcome.


End file.
